This should actually be a new big major release, but I'm holding on implementing
more features before a 1.0 tag.
Added
- Migrated many integrations to the new [entities
framework](https://git.platypush.tech/platypush/platypush/pulls/230).
This is a very large change to the foundations of the platform. Many plugins
(and many others will follow) now publish and store their *entities* in a
standard format, so e.g. all the lights, switches, Bluetooth devices, cameras,
audio devices, media players and sensors are now supposed to expose the same
attributes and API regardless of the type of integration. This refactor also
includes a new default home panel, which includes all the entities detected by
the registered integrations. Many integrations have already been migrated to
the new framework. Among them (and many others are on their way):
- `arduino`
- `bluetooth`
- `light.hue`
- `linode`
- All the `sensor.*` plugins
- `serial`
- `smartthings`
- `switchbot`
- `system`
- `variable`
- `zigbee.mqtt`
- `zwave.mqtt`
- Added support for more complex filters on event hooks. Earlier filters could
only model key-value pair matches. The interface now supports more
sophisticated filters - among these, structured filters with partial matches
and relational filters. For example:
python
from platypush.event.hook import hook
from platypush.message.event.sensor import SensorDataChangeEvent
hook(SensorDataChangeEvent, data=1):
def hook_1(event):
"""
Triggered when event.data == 1
"""
hook(SensorDataChangeEvent, data={'state': 1}):
def hook_2(event):
"""
Triggered when event.data['state'] == 1
"""
hook(SensorDataChangeEvent, data={
'temperature': {'$gt': 25},
'humidity': {'$le': 15}
}):
def hook_3(event):
"""
Triggered when event.data['temperature'] > 25 and
event.data['humidity'] <= 15.
"""
The supported relational fields are the same supported by ElasticSearch - `$gt`
for greater than, `$lt` for lesser than, `$ge` for greater or equal, `$ne` for
not equal, etc.
This also means that the previous `SensorDataAboveThresholdEvent` and
`SensorDataBelowThresholdEvent` events are now deprecated, as the new hook API
makes it much easier and flexible to define custom threshold logic on any events
without having to pre-define thresholds in each backend's configuration.
- Added a Progressive WebApp (PWA) framework to the Vue webapp. It is now
possible to install Platypush as a stand-alone webapp directly from the web
panel if the panel is served over HTTPS. For now this only improves the user
experience, performance and it provides a more native-like experience on
mobile, but in the future the PWA background worker could be used to e.g.
deliver asynchronous events and notifications to the clients without keeping
the browser open.
- Added support for application database automatic migrations after an update by
using Alembic.
Changed
- Tornado is now used as an HTTP engine by `backend.http`, instead of using
bare bone Flask with its inefficient Werkzeug server and an optional uwsgi
that required extra configuration (and an extra external service).
- All the streaming endpoints have been rewritten and adapted to work with
Tornado. This greatly improves performance, stability and ease of
configuration, while remaining back-compatible with the previous URL formats.
As a side note, all the streaming endpoints are now using Redis to stream
information across multiple worker processes, so make sure that you have a
version of Redis that supports pub/sub (most of the recent ones should do).
- The `bluetooth` plugin has been completely rewritten, merged with the (now
deprecated) `backend.bluetooth`. The previously separated low-energy/legacy
integrations have now been merged too. It now supports much more than passive
scanning, as it can recognize the information published by most of the device,
supports both legacy and low-energy connection/disconnection actions, and it
can detect most of the device classes, services and manufacturers. It also
supports parsing some standard features (like battery level, temperature,
state etc.) if they are published according to some convention supported by
*TheengsGateway*. The `switchbot.bluetooth` integration has now also been
merged into `bluetooth`.
- The `sound` plugin has been completely rewritten. While it should still be
largely back-compatible with the previous implementation, you should probably
go and take a look at the new documentation to get a grasp of the new
features.
- The `camera.ffmpeg` plugin has received a big rewrite that has improved its
stability and robustness against several types of cameras. It is now the
recommended way of interfacing with general-purpose cameras, even for
PiCameras - the `camera.pi` integration is now largely deprecated, as the old
PiCamera API is deprecated as well, and `camera.ffmpeg` should now work out of
the box with a PiCamera if a reasonably recent version of ffmpeg is installed.
- `backend.websocket` has been **removed** and replaced by Tornado asynchronous
websocket URLs registered on the HTTP backend. The two new routes that
replace the websocket backend are:
- `/ws/events`: subscribe to this websocket to receive any asynchronous
events forwarded by the application.
- `/ws/requests`: you can send request messages to this endpoints, and the
responses will be received asynchronously on the same channel.
- The `inspect` plugin has been largely improved.
- Its performance is now much snappier, as it scans for all the available
integrations by searching for manifest files instead of scanning each
single source file. Documentation about specific plugins and actions is
fetched lazily when requested by the user.
- It now also caches results by looking at the last modified date of the
source file, so it won't have to re-scan source files that haven't been
modified.
- Its detection of RST constructs has also been improved, so most of the code
blocks, schemas, return types and references to other objects are now
rendered in the plugin UI.
- Added `variable.delete` action. The existing `variable.unset` action will now
only set a variable to null if it exists, while `variable.delete` will
actually remove it from the database.
- `backend.sensor.distance` and `gpio.sensor.distance` have been removed and
migrated instead to a new `sensor.hcsr04` plugin, since the existing logic
actually only applies to HC-SR04-like distance sensors.
- `backend.sensor.dht` and `gpio.sensor.dht` have been removed and
migrated to a new `sensor.dht` plugin.
- `backend.sensor.accelerometer` and `gpio.sensor.accelerometer` have been
removed and migrated to a new `sensor.lis3dh` plugin, since the existing
accelerometer logic only works with these sensors.
- `backend.sensor.motion.pwm3901` and `gpio.sensor.motion.pwm3901` have been
removed and migrated to a new `sensor.pwm3901` plugin.
accelerometer logic only works with these sensors.
- `backend.sensor.envirophat` and `gpio.sensor.envirophat` have been removed and
migrated to a new `sensor.envirophat` plugin.
- `backend.sensor.ltr559` and `gpio.sensor.ltr559` have been removed and
migrated to a new `sensor.ltr559` plugin.
- `backend.sensor.bme280` and `gpio.sensor.bme280` have been removed and
migrated to a new `sensor.bme280` plugin.
- `backend.sensor.distance.vl53l1x` and `gpio.sensor.distance.vl53l1x` have been
removed and migrated to a new `sensor.vl53l1x` plugin.
- `backend.serial` has been removed and merged into the `serial` plugin.
- `backend.switch.wemo` has been removed and merged into the `switch.wemo`
plugin.
- `backend.switch.tplink` has been removed and merged into the `switch.tplink`
plugin.
- `backend.zigbee.mqtt` has been removed and merged into the `zigbee.mqtt`
plugin.
- `backend.zwave.mqtt` has been removed and merged into the `zwave.mqtt` plugin.
Fixed
- Notable performance improvements for the UI (like -50% on the load time and
memory usage in some cases). Recursive/reflective Vue components now use
`shallowRef`, so complex UI models won't have to be fully loaded at page
start.
- Fixed compatibility with SQLAlchemy 2.
- Migrated the `clipboard` integration from `pyperclip` to `pyclip` (see
[240](https://git.platypush.tech/platypush/platypush/issues/240)).
`pyperclip` is unmaintained and largely broken, and `pyclip` seems to be a
viable drop-in alternative.
- Better implementation of the UI modals - added close buttons and trigger
closure when Esc is pressed.
Removed
- Removed SSL configuration from `backend.http`. Configuring SSL on
Flask+Tornado is messy, and it won't end up with a good user experience.
Instead, you should consider using a reverse proxy (e.g. nginx or Apache) if
you want to make the Platypush web interface available over HTTPS. A sample
nginx configuration has been added under `examples/nginx`. Note that running
the web panel over HTTPS is a requirement if you want to leverage the PWA
features, as a PWA can only be served over HTTPS.
- Removed the Bluetooth file server integration. It is still possible to send
files over Bluetooth (the feature has now been merged into the `bluetooth`
plugin, under `bluetooth.send_file`), but all the server features rely on
features of PyOBEX that are now very broken on recent versions of Python (the
project itself hasn't been updated in years).
- Removed or deprecated all the `backend.sensor.*` backends. Their logic has now
been merged into their associated plugins, and the plugins will have the
ability to run in the background too.
- Removed `backend.sensor.battery`. It has now been merged into the `system`
plugin.
- Removed `gpio.sensor` plugin. It was never really fully implemented, and it
was probably impossible to implement with an interface that could work with
any sensor-like device connected over GPIO.